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Thursday, February 17, 2011

Journey Round My Skull, pt 1

I met Tom and his wife and daughter at a party held by mutual friends. Our two families hit it off--and by the end of a long but casual conversation, they invited us to what they said might seem kind of weird: a brain surgery anniversary.

I almost fell off my chair. "You're kidding! I celebrate the anniversaries of my brain surgery, too!"

I think they might have thought I was teasing or making fun of Tom--but I was completely serious, as I wrote about yesterday. Although my experience was intense, I was very lucky to have a non-cancerous tumor which did not threaten my life. Although I have some side effects from the tumor and surgery, my status is completely stable and I am now healthy. Tom was not so lucky. From the beginning, his illness has manifested itself in much more serious ways.

Tom continues to face new symptoms, new doctors, and new treatments all the time. There are new dangers and fears as well. But as he says, "It doesn't make sense to me to approach any of this with pity or a lack of joy. There are a lot of ways all of us can approach fear and uncertainty. Humor is one of them. I wouldn't choose it any other way."

3 comments:

Almost speechless, but I wanted to leave some brief words of thanks for your sharing of this story here. I began to read your blog as part of Ancient Greeks Classics Tour. For those who think blogging, tweeting, etc is just mindless chatter, they need to peek on the inside and read writing like yours--this week and those other weeks that emanate from that large strip of brain real estate devoted to Books. Thanks again, and happy anniversary!

About Me

About this Project-

I am reading all those classic books I should have read already--beginning with Gilgamesh and the Ancient Greeks, and heading forward through time, hitting everything from Chaucer to Tolstoy to Proust. Please join me--for one, some, or all books, or just to follow my journey.